In a new report, the ECB unveiled details for the first time of the climate impact of its huge corporate bond holdings, amassed over years of crisis-fighting in the eurozone.
Although the portfolio's overall greenhouse gas emissions rose in recent years as the ECB hoovered up more debt to bolster the eurozone economy, the relative carbon footprint of debt issuers actually decreased, the report showed.
The ECB's corporate bond holdings swelled from 173.1 billion euros ($188 billion) in 2018 to 358.2 billion euros in 2022, a 123-percent increase, but the "carbon intensity" of its portfolio fell by 30 percent over that period.
The decline was partly down to companies' own efforts to boost their carbon efficiency, resulting in lower emissions for every million euro of revenue they earned, the ECB said.
Another contributing factor was the ECB's decision to "tilt" its bond buys towards companies "with a better climate performance", which it started doing in October.
The Frankfurt institution said it plans to publish the climate report annually from now on.
"These disclosures are a further piece of the puzzle in our efforts to contribute to fighting climate change," ECB president Christine Lagarde said in a statement.
"They give us a clear view of our progress in decarbonising our portfolios and, over time, they will help us to chart the most effective course towards the goals of the Paris Agreement."
Lagarde has repeatedly stressed that the ECB has a role to play in the fight against global warming, even though its main mandate is maintaining price stability.
The ECB has begun holding "climate stress tests" for the more than 100 banks it supervises, to examine their resilience to environmental shocks.
The Frankfurt institution warned eurozone banks last year that they had to speed up efforts to tackle financial risks related to climate change, saying there was "a long way to go".
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